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First Bite Boulder boosts restaurant business

Promotional event draws customers for $26 three-course meals

By Erica Meltzer Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/18/2009 09:55:43 PM MST

Updated:
11/18/2009 11:14:40 PM MST

Marco Host prepares desserts at John s Restaurant in Boulder last week. John s is one of 45 restaurants participating in First Bite Boulder, a promotional discount that runs through Saturday.
(
MARK LEFFINGWELL
)

For John's Restaurant, it's a way to draw in new customers who might otherwise balk at the prices.

For Antica Roma, it's a way to announce the restaurant is under new ownership and putting new attention on quality ingredients.

For Arugula Bar e Ristorante, it's a way to spread the word about a restaurant that opened just this year.

Boulder restaurateurs participating in First Bite Boulder say the promotional event, in which diners can eat from any three-course menu for $26 a person through Saturday, definitely boosts business and brings in new customers. But customer volume isn't radically different during the annual event, and they aren't turning to it to beat back the recession, restaurant owners and managers say.

For friends Debbie Jenkins, RuthAnne Schedler and Chantal Gregory, all of Lafayette, First Bite Boulder provided the excuse they've been looking for to plan a much-needed girls' night out. In fact, they held two of them in one week.

"I was bound and determined to do it this year," said Jenkins, who organized two outings for her friends, one to Colterra Food and Wine in Niwot and one to Antica Roma on Pearl Street.

Jenkins and Schedler are teachers, while Gregory is a stay-at-home mom who sells Mary Kay products, so they all watch their spending. They said they were impressed with the value of the fixed-price menus, which included steak, lamb and halibut.

"I thought everything was going to be pizza and pasta," Jenkins said.

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This year, 45 restaurants are participating in First Bite -- eight more than last year. Four of the newcomers are brand new restaurants, while the others are established restaurants participating for the first time.

The city's monthly revenue report shows that while restaurant spending is down from last year, people are still finding room in their budgets for the occasional night out.

Boulder restaurants generated $7.96 million in tax revenue for the city between January and September, the latest month for which figures are available, down 4.05 percent from the $8.3 million those restaurants generated for the city during the same period last year.

That's roughly the same decline as general retail, which fell 3.99 percent compared with last year. In contrast, consumer electronics are down 17.81 percent, home furnishings are down 12.87 percent and clothing is down 9.19 percent.

Denver-based restaurant industry consultant John Imbergamo said mid-scale restaurants that cater to locals are doing better than high-end restaurants that rely on business clients.

Imbergamo said he doesn't know if promotional events such as First Bite Boulder are working any better during the recession, "but they're definitely working."

Antica Roma co-owner Dave Breen took over the Pearl Street trattoria last year, but he wasn't ready to announce the new ownership right away.

"A lot of things needed to change," he said. "It took a while to do that."

First Bite Boulder arrived at the same time he was ready to spread the word about the new approach and the new menu.

Similarly, Arugula chef and owner Alec Schuler said First Bite was a chance to generate buzz about his restaurant, which serves high-end food prepared with local ingredients.

He put together one of the largest menus of any First Bite participant to make sure diners could sample a broad range of what he has to offer.

"It's a little more churn and burn than I prefer creatively, but for sales, it's been great," he said. "It draws people who normally wouldn't go for fine dining."

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